


Forgotten Promises

by dem_bones91



Series: Delta Saga [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adoption, Agender Frisk (Undertale), Ambiguous-Gender Frisk (Undertale) except to the readers, Child Abuse, Child Neglect, Cinnamon Roll Papyrus (Undertale), Clones, Conduct Disorder, Crossdressing, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Every colored soul has determination and can warp reality, Evil Undertale Player, F/F, F/M, Female Frisk (Undertale), Flavor Text Unreliable Narrator Chara (Undertale), For some characters death doesn't stop them from aging, Friends to Enemies, Frisk (Undertale) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Frisk can't see the saves, Frisk is not a good person, Frisk is the final fantasy equivalent of a blue mage, Frisk is unaware of the saves at first, Gangs, Gender Confusion, Ghost kids - Freeform, Intentional physical age regression, Mages age differently from monsters and humans, Magic-User Chara (Undertale), Magic-User Frisk (Undertale), Male Chara (Undertale), Manipulation, Murderer Chara (Undertale), Not Really Character Death, Novelization...sort of, Observant Sans, Original Character Death(s), Original Character(s), Orphans, Parent Toriel (Undertale), Past Character Death, Pre-Accident W. D. Gaster, Reality bending mages, Sans (Undertale) Doesn't Remember Resets, Scientist W. D. Gaster, Sociopathy, Soul Bond, Soul Sex, Soulless Undertale Pacifist Route, Spoilers - Undertale Genocide Route, Spoilers - Undertale Neutral Route, Spoilers - Undertale Pacifist Route, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, Teenage Frisk (Undertale), Teenage Sans and Papyrus, Temporary Character Death, The Undertale Player is the one with the ability to save and reset, The ghosts (Undertale) remember resets, Trans Male Character, Trans Mettaton (Undertale), Undertale Genocide Route, Undertale Neutral Route, Undertale Player has a gender, Unintentional physical age regression, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Yandere Chara, all from writing a lot of time travel shenanigans, ascended extras galore, character studies not Chara studies, everyone with determination remembers resets, i intend to flesh out every minor character in undertale, monsters age differently from humans and mages, sans is a jerk, thus we get characters whose minds are older than their bodies, world building
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-17
Updated: 2018-11-22
Packaged: 2019-07-13 11:33:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16017041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dem_bones91/pseuds/dem_bones91
Summary: Juggling the burden of forgetting about his past, Sans is trying to cope with his life of nihilism. This is all made complicated when Frisk falls into the underground and a fallen child named Chara is attached to her soul. Is Frisk the key in helping monsters go free or will she leave the underground in a trail of dust?





	1. The Orphan

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Undertale.

For as long as Chara could remember the kids in the town often spoke of a mysterious mountain that was said to house many monsters. People feared the monsters would attack them and if provoked it would be the start of a never ending war.

Chara was raised in an orphanage. He had parents, once. They had left him with that old rusted bronze heart locket.

He had been told his parents had been good people once. Descendants of those who possessed the ability to use magic.

Rumor had it that there was once seven wizards who worked for the king of the island.

Humans had learned to harness the ability but it came with a big sacrifice. Using magic came at a big price often costing a human their soul. His parents had died in a massive explosion trying to save his life. They didn't say more on the subject so it was a complete mystery on what they had been trying to save him from.

Chara loathed every day he was alive having to live with his parent's sacrifice. He hadn't made very many friends in the orphanage.

He had shared a room with another child. Kenny was his name. He had smiled upon meeting Chara.

"Hello," He said.

Chara smiled. It was what he had been told to do when he was greeted by a stranger.

Kenny had unpacked his suitcase moving his clothes into the drawer by the bunk beds. The room had plenty of space. It had enough room to house many bunk beds.

"What's this?"

Kenny took out a knife with a sharp blade that had a shiny silvery sheen.

"That's mine," Chara snapped.

Kenny's eyes widened and dropped the knife in fright jumping away just in time as the blade landed on the floor.

Chara growled.

"That thing that you have. It's a knife isn't it? I thought those weren't allowed at the Orphanage?"

Chara smiled.

"Are you going to tell on me?"

Kenny's face heated up.

Chara crept closer to him.

"No, I-"

Kenny flinched as Chara stood in front of him.

He knelt down and picked up the knife off the floor. Chara held the knife up to the light.

"At least it isn't scratched or someone would have gotten hurt."

Chara put the knife down and glanced at Kenny.

Kenny shuddered.

"Why are you looking at me like that? It's creepy."

The next evening, the keeper of the orphanage had dropped by their room and extracted the knife.

That afternoon Kenny had been talking with some other boys. They glanced at Chara with wide restless eyes whispering amongst themselves so softly that he couldn't hear.

"Who is that boy and why is he looking at us funny?"

"I don't want to know. He's creepy. You know he tried to sneak a knife into his room."

"A knife. What if he tries to kill someone?"

It was that evening that they had all gathered around in a room full of toys. The keeper of the orphanage had sat in a large oak rocking chair with a small book in her hand.

"So what are we reading, miss?"

"The title is 'The Legend of Mount Ebott' by Roil Tullet.'"

"That's a strange name."

"It's a pseudonym."

"What's a pseudonym?" Kenny asked.

"It's like a pen name."

"I see."

Upon opening the book, she began to read.

"Long ago there was legends of a secret entrance leading to the cave of monster hidden on Mount Ebott. It was told that one time monsters and humans had once coexisted. The monsters had taught humans how to use magic and humans had taught monsters how to be kind to one another. One of the humans had fallen ill while playing with the monsters. This human was friends with a monster who was determined to find an antidote for their friend enduring encounters with ruthless dragons and powerful wizards."

Chara's ears perked up, intrigued by the tale.

"Upon returning with the antidote however the monster tried to wake the human finding his body cold to the touch. The wounds the monster had sustained from obtaining the antidote had taken it's toll on the monster and his body melted. Humans had gone on thinking that their child had killed the monster out of self defence and had perceived their child's death as an attack from the monsters. None of the humans had ever discovered how the child or the monster had died though every time there is an earthquake some say that they can hear the monster moaning that human's name."

By the time she was finished reading most of the children had fallen asleep accept Chara whose eyes seemed very intent and focused.

"You seemed to be very interested in that story, Chara."

"Is it true?"

"You know as well as I do that it's just a fairy tale."

"It can't be a fairy tale. Mount Ebott is just outside this village. I mean why did the villagers seal up that cave."

She chuckled.

"Fear. Often people tend to fear things that they don't understand or things that don't exist."

'No,' Chara thought. 'They were afraid of the monsters because they could have killed them.'

It was days later that the keeper of the orphanage had brought them outside to play at the park. The park was quite vast full of green grass and shrubbery. The only evidence of color was the vibrant golden flowers that Chara had the habit of stomping on. Mount Ebott was a large mountain but there was a path that had lead up the mountain.

All of them were blocked off by caution tape and barbed wire fence. Such things would have blocked any one who didn't have an ounce of determination.

Most of the kids at the park were minding their business. Kenny was the favorite of the woman who tended to them. He had asked her to play hide and seek with him.

Just as they were going to start playing, it was beginning to rain.

"Come along everyone. We gotta head back inside."

Chara couldn't hear as he had already snuck under the taped path.

It was raining quickly and he was getting soaked. He had to find cover and quick.

He treaded up the rocky trail before spotting a dark cave.

Cautiously Chara stepped inside. On the rocky ground were some green vines that lead further in the cave. As Chara stepped deeper in the cave, he spotted the large hole that stood near the end of the cave.

His foot caught on one of the vines and he fell forward into the large hole. He felt a blinding pain at the back of his skull before everything went black.


	2. Asriel

The next time he had awoke it was to a throbbing pain at the back of his head.

"Are you alright?" A soft voice asked.

Chara looked up and saw a white creature with long drooping ears and fangs that hung over his mouth. He wore black robes with a strange symbol on them.

"Yeah," Chara said before pointing above him. "I think I fell from up there."

"Oh, I heard that leads to the surface world."

"Surface world?"

"It's where humans live. You are a human aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"I see. What's your name?"

"Chara."

"Chara, huh? That's a nice name. My name is Asriel Dreemurr."

Chara smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Asriel."

"Ah I can't wait to tell my parents all about you. I'm sure mom would love to meet you."

Asriel took his hand and dragged him through the ruins. They eventually arrived outside a large castle. Asriel opened the door.

Chara stood patiently outside the house.

"Oh, you can come in."

Chara stepped inside.

Asriel ran off to the left.

"Where are they?" Asriel muttered to himself.

"Who're you looking for?" Chara asked.

"My parents. They don't seem to be in their rooms. Mom is probably cooking some snail pie while my father is reading some books in the living room."

Asriel headed to the left of the hall, Chara following him from behind.

"No, no, wait here. I think I ought to surprise them."

Chara waited there while Asriel headed to the living room.

His father sat on a large rocking chair facing in the direction of another rocking chair. The bookshelf was against the wall to the left of where he was sitting nowhere near the rocking chairs. A table and three sets of chairs stood against the opposite wall. His father wore tiny half circles glasses which hung over his large nose.

"Dad, where's mom?"

"She cooking in the kitchen."

Asriel ran into the kitchen as his mother turned around.

"Asriel, you silly boy. Where have you been? I've been looking everywhere for you."

"Mom," Asriel said. "I got a surprise to show you."

His mother left the stove and headed in the living room.

"Toriel? Where are you going?" His father asked.

"Asriel had something he wanted to show me."

"Dad, can you come too?"

"Sure."

His father got up, placed a leather bookmark into the book to mark his spot and put it back on the shelf.

"Now you two got to close your eyes."

Toriel brought a hand up to her face to conceal her eyes. His father did the same though Asriel could see him peaking through the gaps of his fingers.

"Dad, you too."

"But I-"

Asriel huffed.

"No cheating."

Toriel grabbed her husband's hand while Asriel grabbed his mother's and he lead them into the hall where Chara was waiting.

"You can open your eyes now."

Both his mother and father removed the hands from their eyes. Their eyes widened at the sight of the small child with shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes and flushed cheeks.

"Oh my, it's-"

"A human?" His father asked.

"Yeah, he said he tripped and fell into the cave."

Toriel gasped.

Chara was still rubbing at his head wound.

"Oh he's hurt."

Asriel walked to the side as Toriel grabbed Chara's hands leading him into the kitchen. She opened the freezer and took out an ice pack.

"Put that on your head, my child."

Chara took the ice pack and put it on the back of his head.

"You should leave it on your head for a while until the pain eases away."

Chara walked out of the kitchen and spotted Asriel sitting on the floor talking with his father.

Toriel was not far behind.

"Oh Chara, you're alright. Now we can go play," said Asriel who beamed at the thought.

"Not so fast," Toriel snapped. "He might have a concussion. We can't afford to make it any worse."

"Oh mom."

"I think the pain is starting to go away though," Chara said.

"It doesn't hurt to be a little cautious. Maybe Asgore can tell you both a story and Asriel can show you the inside of his room."

"But Tori-"

"You know I have to attend to the pie."

Asgore sighed.

After Asgore told them a story, Asriel lead Chara into his room. Besides the large red rug of white triangles and white squiggly lines, a red striped lamp stood on a stool in the top left corner of the room with a small chest approximately 12 inches away from it. Beside the small chest was a shelf to store shoes. Near that was large cabinet with one drawer beneath it. A tall striped lamp stood on the opposite end of the other lamp. Below that was a twin sized bed with red and black covers. In front of the bed was a chest of toys none of them holding Chara's interest.

"Do you like it?"

"It seems a little empty don't you think?"

Asriel frowned.

"I don't have many friends. No one really respects me as a person. They only see me as the king's son."

"That's a shame."

Asriel smiled.

"The locals are nice though. There's Monsterwoman, Doggo, Ice Cap and Snowdrake," Asriel said. "Monsterwoman makes the best cookies."

'What a bunch of losers,' Chara thought.

Asriel took out some toys.

The child's eyes lit up at the sight of the ball.

"Is that a baseball?"

Asriel chuckled.

"Yeah, it's a part of a little prank I pulled on my dad. Here you can hold it if you want."

Asriel handed Chara the ball.

"Why would I want to do that?"

"Ah, come on please."

Chara took the ball. He was stunned by the way it grew in his hand.

"Why is it growing so big?"

Asriel snickered.

"I too wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me."

Chara was silent.

"Ah come on. I worked so hard on that one."

"Want to play catch?"

"Are you sure? You are still hurt and mom told you to take it easy."

Chara snorted.

"I'm not going to die from it."

Asriel chuckled.

Chara tossed him the ball.

Asriel caught it and threw it back.

Chara's smile grew wider.

"We should throw it faster. It'd be more fun that way."

Chara tossed it hard in Asriel's direction.

Asriel caught it easily.

"Wow that was fast. I didn't know humans could do that."

"It's very easy to do."

It was some time after they were playing catch that Asriel seemed to think about something.

"You said that you came from the surface world right? Do you have a home up there?"

"Yes, though there's no way I'm getting back there now."

"Maybe my mom and dad know how to leave this place."

Asriel left the room. In the living room, the pie stood in the center of the table. His father had already devoured two pieces of pie.

Toriel on the other hand was sitting in the right rocking chair wearing her glasses and reading a book.

"Hey mom, is there a way to the surface?" Asriel asked.

"Is your friend thinking of leaving this place?"

"Well, he wanted to go home. I think he misses his family."

"I see."

"Asriel, surely you can convince your friend to reconsider. It's not too often you find yourself a friend like that is there?" Toriel asked.

Asriel felt his face grow hot.

"Alright."

He headed back to his bedroom.

"What did she say? Can I finally get out of here?"

"Well I'd kind of like it if you can stay here with us? My mom and dad would take good care of you."

Chara was silent. He stroked his chin with his fingers thoughtfully.

"I'll think about it."

Asriel headed back into the living.

"He says he'll think about it."

"Well, he can think about it tomorrow morning when you two head to town. I'm sure he'd love a tour. Asriel, do you mind sharing a room with Chara?" Toriel asked.

Asriel shook his head.

"Not at all."

"I'll conjure another bed for your friend."

The next morning, Chara followed Asriel into the living room. Toriel had already set breakfast on the table.

"I hope you like chocolate. I heard it makes the best cakes."

Chara's eyes widened in excitement.

"I love chocolate."

Toriel eased between Asriel and Chara to slice the cake with her knife. She gave the first piece to Chara who immediately dug into it.

"That should give you enough energy for your trip," Toriel said.

After the two had finished eating, Asriel walked into the hall and headed downstairs.

"Where are we going?" Chara asked.

"This is the way out of the castle."

Once they managed to step outside the castle, the two headed through the village of Waterfall before noticing the tall trees and tiny specks of snow that floated from the surface.

The moment they had arrived in Snowdin, Chara seen that it was a village comprised of small, cozy looking cabins.

Asriel lead Chara to the north of the village. To the right was a building where a large black dog hurled large blocks of ice into the body of water next to him while to the left was a cabin. Several rocks stood outside.

"Oh Asriel, I didn't know you were in town," one of the rocks said.

"I'm just showing a friend around."

"I've never seen any monster looking like that before," Another rock said.

"Oh it's because he's human."

"What? I didn't know humans wore striped shirts."

"Um, er..."

The door of the cabin opened and a tall yellow scaly monster stepped outside with an apron on waving a large plastic spoon in their direction.

"Boys knock it off. You don't need to give Asriel a bad time."

The rocks groaned.

"Sorry Asriel."

"It's alright."

The tall yellow monster wrapped her arm around Asriel escorting him inside her cabin.

"Oh Asriel, you must be exhausted. You should get on that mother of yours always letting you go out by yourself. What brings you in here anyway?"

"I was supposed to give Chara a tour of town."

"Chara, huh?" The tall yellow monster said. "Is that your name?"

Chara nodded.

"You said he was a human right?"

Asriel nodded.

"Does that mean that the king will finally be able to break through the barrier and bring us to the surface?"

"Uh..."

"What do you mean by barrier?" Chara asked.

"I'm certain the surface world has it's legends how monsters became sealed deep from within Mount Ebott."

"So there's no way out?"

"For us monsters but not for a human with a strong soul. It is a barrier created from the will of humans. It's purpose is to keep monsters out."

"So all a monster needs is a human soul to pass through the barrier?"

"Yes."

It seemed to good to be true. The idea of monsters attacking the wretched souls that left him in that awful orphanage to be bullied by those children had filled him with such glee.

"What prevents the barrier from being destroyed in the first place?" Chara asked.

"Seven human souls are needed to shatter the barrier. It's not exactly easy to acquire seven dead humans is it?"

Chara sighed.

"Asriel, you're looking a little peckish. Are you alright?" She asked.

"I'm fine."

"You look exhausted. Maybe the weather is getting to you. I'll be back with some hot chocolate and cookies."

The yellow monster headed for the kitchen.

Chara smiled.

"You know, I think I've changed my mind."

Asriel beamed.

"Really?"

"I could get used to living down here for a while if you'll still accept me of course?"

Asriel nodded.

"But what about your parents won't they miss you?"

Chara frowned.

"They wouldn't miss me that much. It's not exactly a happy life. My parents were killed when I was only just a baby. They left me in that orphanage. It's terrible."

The yellow creature came back with a plate of cookies.

"I'll be back with your hot chocolate."

It was later she had came back with two mugs. Steam was coming out of them both.

"Be careful it's hot."

A month had gone by, Toriel had dropped by with something akin to excitement.

"Can you believe it, Fluffybuns? Snowdrake is hosting a fair with Ice Cap. Doesn't that sound like fun."

Asgore groaned.

"It'll be very embarrassing. What will the monsters say if you keep calling me, King Fluffybuns?"

A knock from the front door interrupted their conversation.

Toriel smiled.

"I don't see the problem. You were always Fluffybuns to me," She said slyly.

"Get a room you two," Asriel said, fake vomiting into his hand.

Toriel headed for the door and opened.

Outside was a short skeleton with a blue hooded jacket and black shorts. He was wearing blue sneakers on his feet.

"Sans, it's been a while. Is your father doing alright?"

"He's busy as usual with his convoluted experiments."

"Come in, won't you? You hardly drop by just to talk."

"Alright."

He walked inside immediately catching sight of the three who were seated at the table. The king and his son were the only two familiar to him.

"You haven't met Chara yet have you?"

The other guest was completely different from anything he'd ever seen before, peach skin, flushed cheeks and a yellow shirt with green stripes.

"Hi."

Asgore looked up from what he was doing. He looked very startled by the sight of the skeleton.

"Ah Sans I wasn't expecting you for at least another hour."

"Well, who could afford to waste this opportunity. It's not everyday we hear about the secret life of our king or should I say King Fluffybuns."

"Well, we're heading to the fair right now so say hi to your father for me will ya?"

Sans nodded.

"Well then I guess I'll be going then. See ya."

Sans headed out.

Toriel glanced at her watch.

"We got to go now or we're going to be late."

After Asgore and Asriel finished their meal, Toriel took a coat from the coat rack in the hall and wrapped it around Chara.

"It's going to be cold out there so you two need to stay warm."

Asgore handed Asriel a coat.

The two headed north of Snowdin. Snowdrake had already set up the games. There were games like breaking the ice, fishing for rocks in the river and rings on the gyftrot, a creature that looked a lot like a reindeer.

Most of the kids had already gathered in the center throwing rings trying to get them to land on the gyftrot's antlers. Ice Cap who had been running the event was giving away stuffed teddy bears to anyone who was able to do it.

Filled with determination, Chara walked up to Ice Cap.

"Can I try?"

Ice Cap handed Chara some toy rings.

Chara tried to toss the rings but all five missed. Over the past few weeks, Chara had discovered that making even the slightest mistake and having the determination to fix it seemed to rewind the timeline somehow.

He had told Asriel about it.

"Wow, that's cool," he said. "I didn't know humans even had the ability to travel through time."

Chara found that if he willed it the timeline would reverse and continue reversing until he was satisfied.

"Are you going to do it now?" Asriel whispered.

"Yeah."

Asriel only seemed to remember the timeline that Chara had succeeded in. He had picked out two bears, one white and the other one red.

"Thank you, Chara."


	3. Family Portrait

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara and Asriel make a pie for Asgore

As the months flew by it was steadily becoming obvious by the amount of creatures shivering in the house that it was December.

Chara and Asriel had been in their room when they heard someone knocking on the door. Asriel opened the door a hair and spotted her talking with someone at the front door. He immediately caught sight of the package under her arm.

She turned and walked to the living room with a big smile on her face.

"What's got you looking so happy, mom?" He asked.

"Sans dropped by to deliver Dr Aster's recent creation. Apparently he created a device that could capture live images."

"Isn't that a camera?"

"You have them too?" Toriel asked.

Chara nodded.

"I see. Still I have to admit I'm kind of happy with this present. I would love to see us living together in harmony but if everything goes wrong at least we have the next best thing."

Toriel opened the package and immediately got to work setting up the camera-like device.

It took nearly all day before she finally set it up even with the instructions Sans had left her.

The next morning she had gathered everyone in the living room.

"Now smile for the camera."

After Toriel set up the camera she creeped into the picture and there was a flash. A photo came from the camera and landed on the ground.

Toriel walked to it and picked it up.

"How beautiful," She marveled.

"I must say. I have to admit I'm very impressed," Asgore said. "Is Dr Aster working on anything else? First he made that video capturing device and now he made one that capture pictures."

Toriel coughed glancing at Asgore.

"Oh right. Chara, there's something I want to show you," Asgore said as he wrapped one of his arms around Chara leading him downstairs past the long hall. Outside was a meadow of golden flowers.

The only sight that could have turned Chara's mood worse was there. He hadn't wanted to remember the human world.

The golden flowers only reminded Chara that he had been alone up there and no one on the surface had even cared about him.

From behind him Chara heard Asriel walking from behind him.

"Wow, it's beautiful. I've never seen flowers like these before."

"They come from the surface world. I've only been there once. I was intrigued by these flowers so I brought some down into the ruins. They don't grow very well down here without sunlight," Asgore said. "So eventually the flowers I brought down here wilted but they left little seeds. I planted some here and watered them and provided some magic light and they grew like crazy."

"Can I pick them?" Asriel asked.

"Sure if Chara says it's alright."

Asriel turned and gave him the puppy dog eyes.

Chara chuckled.

"Alright."

Asriel picked some flower and had gathered enough to give to Chara.

"Ah come on Asriel. Don't you think flowers are a little girly?"

"I can't help it. They're so beautiful."

"They won't last forever when you are holding them like that," Toriel said. "I think I have a vase for those. We'll put them in the hall."

Days later, Asriel is surprised when Chara comes back with a video camera.

"Where's did you get that, Chara?"

"I managed to sneak it out of mom's room."

"What do you think it does?"

"Want to find out? Here you hold it."

Asriel took it from Chara's hands and glanced over it.

"I think I know how it works."

Toriel came in while Asriel was recording Chara on the video camera.

"What were you two doing?" She asked with narrow eyes.

"Chara wanted to see my creepy smile."

Toriel chuckled.

"Can you show it to me?"

Asriel turned. His right eye leaning to the right of his pupil and the left eyes leaning in the opposite direction. His tongue was sticking out.

"I must admit that is a rather creepy expression."

"I know right."

"If you two aren't busy, would you mind going to the store to get some butter?"

"Why?" Chara asked.

"I wanted to try out a recipe. I got this book from the library with all these neat human recipes. I kind of wanted to try making a butterscotch cinnamon pie to surprise your father."

"Alright we'll do it."

When they leave the house in their coats they head to the village of Waterfall. The bright glistening violet light that twinkles over the village is beautiful.

Asriel and Chara drop by Gerson's shop. It's not the first time they're here though. It had been a massive surprise for Chara seeing the green tortoise for the first time though.

"What can I get you folks?"

"Do you have a tub of butter?" Asriel asked.

Gerson pulled out a tub of butter from the fridge.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. It's right here only for 15 gold."

Asriel gave Gerson the gold.

"Thank you, Mr Gerson."

Chara carried the tub of butter.

Just as they were heading home however Asriel caught sight of a field of buttercups just outside the city.

"We should pick these flowers. They'd be a good present for mom."

"You think every flower is a good present for mom."

A deep voice cut in.

"Hi. Long time no see. I see Tori has you going shopping for her again."

The two looked up and caught sight of a familiar skeleton.

"Yeah, mom says we're going to make butterscotch cinnamon pie for dad."

"I hope you won't be using those flowers."

"Why?" Asriel asked.

"Well those kind of flowers are very poisonous enough to make anyone sick."

Asriel chuckled.

"We're not using it for the pie silly. They're a gift for my mom."

Sans chuckled.

"Well since we are going in the same direction. Why don't I take you kids home?"

"You need to talk with my dad don't you?"

"That's right, kiddo."

The three headed back home. Asriel called out.

"We're back, mom."

Toriel walked in and immediately spotted Sans among them.

"Oh Sans, how good to see you."

"Same here. Is it possible I can speak with King Asgore. I have a message to tell him."

"I think he's reading in the living room."

The three followed Toriel into the living room.

She turned to address the two children.

"You two can start the pie if you wish. This will take a while and we got to let the adults have their space."

Toriel meanwhile had lead Sans up to Asgore's bedroom.

"So what brings you here, Sans?"

"Just some business with the king. I merely wish to ask him something."

Asgore was sitting on his bed reading a book. He looked up when he heard them come in. His eyes lit up the moment he caught sight of Sans.

"Sans, it's good to see you."

Sans turned to glance at Toriel.

Toriel's face heated up.

"Oh I'll give you two some space."

Once Toriel had left, Sans spoke.

"I've been meaning to ask this for a while but what's the deal with that other kid?"

"You mean Chara?"

"He just appeared down here one day. He had a bit of a head injury."

"Did he ever say how he came down here?" Sans asked.

"No, though he did mention that he wasn't exactly happy with his parents in the human world."

"I see. Do you really think that child is the key to our friendship with the humans?"

Asgore's face turned pink.

"Most certainly. Look Sans it's the only chance we've got. We can't live down here forever. Every day I see the monsters losing a little hope."

"I know."

Asriel had been stirring in the cinnamon, sugar and flour just as Toriel came in with Sans.

"I don't know if we should add the buttercups. Well the recipe does say add 1 cup of butter and it is a buttercup."

"It would be a great surprise. Just imagine his face," Chara said.

They were whispering but Chara had turned and saw that Sans was staring right at him and somehow he knew that the skeleton had heard everything.

"So how are you doing with the pie?" Toriel asked as she took a mixing bowl from a cabinet.

"It's great," Asriel said.

'All we need to do is add some flowers,' Chara thought. He did have to see if the flowers were as poisonous as that skeleton had said. He'd love to see the pain on his father's face after he devoured the pie. 'I wonder if he'd die from it.'

"Tori."

Chara turned around. Sans wasn't going to tell her what they did was he?

"What is it, Sans?"

Sans looked at Toriel's gentle smile.

"Uh never mind. I forgot. Well, see you later."

Chara sat at the kitchen table with Asriel waiting intently until the pie had finished baking.

Asgore had joined them. Much to his surprise Toriel had come in with the pie.

"That smell. Is that butterscotch cinnamon pie?"

"Yes, the children made it just for you."

Asgore immediately dug into the pie.

Chara however didn't touch his piece of pie. Asriel glanced at the pie remembering what Sans had said about those buttercups being poisonous and merely picked at his food.

"I'm don't feel good," Chara said.

"I'm not very hungry," Asriel said.

Asgore chuckled.

"Well I guess that just means more for me."

The two headed to Asriel's room and went straight to sleep.

"I wonder what that's all about. They are usually so bright and cheery," Toriel said.

Late in the night where Chara was already invested in a good sleep, he thought he heard panicked screams.

"What's going on?" Asriel whispered.

"I don't know," Chara said.

The two got up. The panicked screams were coming from Asgore's room.

Asriel immediately ran towards his father's bedroom leaving Chara who was walking in the same direction very slowly.

Chara chuckled once he managed to catch up. His pale face was soaked in sweat.

Toriel's face was aghast.

"Mom, what's wrong?"

"Your father is very sick. He's running a high fever. I fear if we don't find what's wrong with him he might die."

Asriel looked down in shame. Sans had warned them about the flower. He had no idea that Sans had been right.

Just as Asriel was about to tell his mother everything, Chara came from behind him.

"Shhh."

He turned and whispered softly.

"Chara."

"You can't tell mom everything," Chara whispered. "We'd get in so much trouble if she found out."

"Well I got to tell her something otherwise dad will die."

"Make up something then."

"Mom, I think Gerson might have accidentally given us buttercups instead of butter."

Toriel's eyes widened.

"What?"

"You two didn't eat that pie did you?"

Asriel shook his head.

Chara chuckled.

"Relax we're fine."

Toriel sighed in relief.

"Good. I should be able to create an antidote."

She headed to the kitchen frantically.

Chara and Asriel could hear her fiddling with objects in the kitchen.

For days, Asgore was bedridden. Chara often spotted Toriel coming in to replace the wet washrag that she had placed on his forehead.

He had been running a fever for quite some time but by the end of the week he was doing phenomenally better.


	4. Determination

It had been a little over a year since Chara had been living with Asriel and his family. During this time Chara was given the task of walking Asriel to school.

Ever since Chara had arrived Asgore had been telling the monsters of how he would be their new hope. Some delighted in his words but others were far skeptical. Many monsters had known the reason why they were trapped here and also why they couldn't escape.

Asgore only had one human soul and it would be impossible to break the barrier with at least one.

Many children had confronted Asriel about this. Several monsters had pushed Asriel in a corner once he had arrived at Monster school.

"Oh ho little Asriel doesn't have his wittle father to back him up. Must be the curse of being royalty."

"Leave me alone," Asriel cried out.

The monsters slammed him into the wall.

"Your father is nothing but a liar. He's all talk but he doesn't even have the ability to set us all free."

Chara caught him after school.

"Come on Asriel, we got to get home."

Looking to his side, Chara saw that Asriel was upset.

"What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"It's those kids again. They said my father doesn't even have the power to open the barrier."

Chara smiled.

"It's alright. They're nothing but bullies."

He patted Asriel on the shoulder.

"This sucks. I'm useless. We were doomed from the start. I don't know why we don't just give up," Asriel said before they headed inside their house.

The two walked to their room and Chara shut the door behind them.

"Listen."

Chara lunged for him, grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around. He looked deep into Asriel's eyes.

"You can't give up. There must be a way. Didn't mom say that a monster can cross the barrier if they only have one soul?"

Asriel nodded.

"That would be mean we'd have to commit murder."

"You'd only need to gather six human souls if I die."

Asriel's eyes widened.

"You can't be serious."

"I'm being completely serious. That skeleton said that those buttercups are toxic right?" Chara asked. "Once I eat those flowers it's pretty clear that I will die."

"I don't like this idea, Chara."

"It's fine, I've already accepted it."

"I don't want you to die though."

Tears gathered at the corners of Asriel's eyes.

"Don't be such a crybaby."

"Wh..what? N-no, I'm not...big kids don't cry."

"Yes, and you're a big kid aren't you?"

"Yeah, you're right."

"You'd never doubt your brother would you?"

"No, I'd never doubt you, Chara...never..."

Chara grinned.

Asriel smiled.

"Y...yeah! We'll be strong! We'll free everyone."

"That's the spirit."

"I'll go get the flowers."

Chara spotted the video camera on the top of the toys with the cap still on. There was a flickering red light indicating that the video camera was still on. He turned it off.

"Tell mom, I'll be back by dinner time."

Chara snorted before he removed the video. There was no need for any of their parents to know their plan.

Once Asriel had left the house to gather buttercups in the field outside the village, he was so excited that he hadn't looked up until it was too late. Asriel fell on his butt and looked up to find none other than Sans.

"Sans, I didn't expect to run into you. Did you need to see my father or something?"

"Nah, I just wanted to stop by to say hello. What are you doing out here so late?"

"Oh..." Asriel stammered. "I-I-Listen can you keep a secret?"

Asriel looked up, tears gathered at the corners of his eyes.

"I can't make promises, kiddo."

"Please."

Beads of sweat dripped down the skeleton's skull. His discomfort seemed to translate into patting him on the shoulder as if to console the youth.

"Alright, relax kid."

"I'm scared. I was talking with my brother. He said he'd help me get past the barrier to the human world to collect enough souls to shatter the barrier and release all the monsters but he's going to die. I don't know if I can do it."

Sans could recall memories of a time when his father had told him bedtime stories.

His father often told him of legends of a monster risking his life to save a human from a deadly poison. The humans had thought that the human and the monster had died.

Days had passed but the monster had awoke, his hands reached up to his chest for invisible wounds. It screamed in horror once it caught sight of the claws.

It sat in the corner of a dark cave sobbing silently. Dwelling upon its current situation, it seemed to have access to a closed off part of it's mind shrouded in equally dark caves.

Its friends was sitting on the ground.

"What's going on? Why are you here?"

"I don't know. The last thing I remember you were sick and I was trying to find an antidote. When I came back you were already dead and the humans killed me."

"No, that's impossible. You're lying."

"But it's true."

"I don't believe you."

The monster theorized to have come to the village by the human's intent had seen it's family and friends. The ones it had acquired when it had once been human. All the humans now looked at it with anger and fear.

"DIE!"

It was later when his father had taken him in as an apprentice that he had discovered that the story was true. Dr Aster had discovered that a monster absorbing a human soul happens to share it with the human. If the intent of the human is stronger than the human can take over the body.

That human that was with the king's son had tried to kill the king. A person with such an intent probably had no qualms about killing anyone. The human had been smiling at the idea of harming the child's father. No human being possessed such glee upon killing a living soul unless they were a monster.

"Look I'll help you kid."

Sans walks away certain that the problem is already solved, certain that the king's son wouldn't follow though with the human's plans.

He doesn't see the large frown on Asriel's face.

All Asriel could hear is Chara talking to him, calling him a traitor.

He picked a bouquet of buttercups from the field and brought them home without his father or mother ever noticing him return.

As the days goes by there are rumours of the human falling ill. Sans feels a sense of dread. He wonders how the king and queen are handling it and how the human must feel sentencing them to the grief in finding their adopted child dying.

Sans visits them the following day. Toriel is holding a picture of a yellow flower that the human has drawn.

"I want to go home," Chara whispers. His voice is raspy. "I miss the village. It's where I lived my entire life."

"Dad, I think he wants to go home," Asriel said.

"Well, we can't take him to the surface it's too dangerous."

Yes, the moment any monster had gone to the surface with a dead body, the humans would inevitably assume that the monster was responsible. It would have been the start of another war between humans and monsters.

Revenge was what the humans called it, an emotion with the strongest violent intent.

The plan was becoming clear, the fallen human had wanted to start another war between them. Odds are it was some kind of revenge against the people who had scorned him.

He couldn't let that happen no matter what or all the monsters would be killed. Chara turns his head towards him. The human frowns.

Sans sees the smile on his face and wonders what prompted it. He knows that it's certainly not a smile indicating happiness. His eyes are cold, his brows furrowed in anger. It looks to be a spiteful smile though what kind of malicious intent the human has is beyond the skeleton's comprehension.

Sans leaves the castle feeling a little bewildered by the human's emotions. He heads into the deeper depths of the castle. The barrier to the outside world only allowed could only be broken if he'd allow them to leave.

It's midnight when he hears the sound of bare feet against the stone floors. It's the king's son but he's different somehow. He's grown a set of horns and three sets of stripes on both sides of his face. His eyes are hallow.

"Kid, are you feeling alright?" Sans asks even though he knows the answer.

The kid is quiet. He frowns.

"Let...me...through..." The kid says, his voice broken by tiny sobs.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that, kiddo."

The kid snarls and screams as if he were going insane. He conjures a line of fireballs and shoots them at Sans.

The skeleton dodges it.

"I'm afraid I can't let you leave. You see I did, a lot of humans wouldn't be happy to see a monster coming from below the surface with a dead human in their hands."

The kid's eyes turn red, smiling with bare teeth.

Sans know this isn't the king's son. That the kid probably absorbed the human's soul out of desperation. The human had partial control over the kid's soul.

It lunges towards him and Sans shoots out a barrage of bones from the ground and hurls them at the monster.

The human stumbles upon some of them causing some of the bones to break in half. Some of the flying pieces had scratched up his face.

"Are you going to give up, kid? You don't know who you're dealing with."

This human, the monster growled and conjured a fire ball lunging towards him.

He stopped in front of Sans about to burn him.

"Not there, kid."

Sans suddenly vanished from in front of him. The monster turned in the direction of the voice and was startled by Sans who had suddenly appeared and kicked him in the gut.

He fell to his knees.

"Give up kid. You don't stand a chance."

Sans sees the corpse is in front of him. The monster is looking down, his shoulder drooped.

"Are you alright, kid?" He asked walking closer.

Sans doesn't see him pulling out the knife until it's too late. He feels the cool metal against his ribs.

"Let me through or I'll kill you."

The blade shakes in his hand. Sans wonders why he hesitates then he sees the monster move the knife from his ribs and in a split second stabs himself in the heart.

Sans suddenly hears the monster chuckling softly. It evolves to mad laughter.

Somehow he knows it's the human. The thought of losing must have been so frustrating.

"You traitor," The human snarls.

"You know what'll happen if I go out there."

"You're nothing but a fool, Asriel," Chara said. He looked up glaring at Sans. It's apparent that it's a look filled with nothing but hatred. "Don't think this is over. I'll make sure you pay for this."

Chara feels his consciousness fade away. He wants revenge on that wretched skeleton. From the calendar hung in their room, he realises at this point that today was the day he had come up with that plan to kill himself and get revenge on the human world.

'Asriel had to have told that skeleton about it. He was having second thoughts about it. What a coward.'

"Chara, I'm going to be late for school. We got to go."

Chara put his shoes on and followed Asriel.

On the way to school, Asriel observed that Chara was more talkative than usual.

"Say Asriel, I've been wondering this for a while but who is Sans anyway? Does your family know him very well?"

"Well, he mostly drops by to deliver messages from his father who happens to work for my father as a royal scientist. I heard his entire family is into the science field."

"He seems like he's a very close friend of the family."

"Nah, I think he really likes my mom though. They usually exchange a line of bad puns. He's never tried talking to me except for that one time when we heading to the capital."

"He seems a little creepy though. I mean when he did come over he was looking at us funny, when we were baking that pie."

"Really?" Asriel asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I saw him."

"That is creepy."

After Chara headed home, Toriel greeted him at the door.

"Hey Chara, I'm sorry to bother you like this but I wanted to ask you a question. You want to take a walk with me to Waterfall? There is something I want to show you."

Chara nodded. Last time she had asked, he had refused.

"It is a long way though. I'll ask Sans if he can join us."

'Perfect,' Chara thought. He had already told Asriel his plans and he could have second thoughts about it this time.

The two headed for the capital. There was a large building in the center of the city where according to Toriel, the royal scientist lived with his family.

Toriel knocked intently on the door.

"Come in," A soft voice came from the other side.

She cautiously opened the front door. There was a large white couch that stood facing a stone fireplace. A skeleton with long stringy blonde hair, a pink fluffy scarf, blue bell bottoms and pink heels sat on the couch with her skeletal hands folded.

She looked up with dark hallow eyes.

"Toriel, I wasn't expecting to see you. Did you want to talk with my husband?"

"No, Arial. I was hoping to talk with Sans."

Arial got up and headed to the far end of the room. She opened the door a hair speaking softly.

"Sans, the queen wishes to speak with you."

"So she has a bone to pick with me does she?"

"SANS," She snarled.

Chara can hear him chuckling.

"You have no sense of humor."

He plopped into the room as Arial had put her hand to her forehead and sighed in exasperation.

"Is there a reason you wished to see me your majesty?" Sans asked.

"We were both heading to Waterfall and I wondered if you wanted to come along?"

Sans glanced at Toriel.

"Heh, heh."

Chara noticed his eyes didn't seem to leave hers.

'What a creep!'

Sans shrugged.

"Well, if you insist."

The three headed out.

"Be careful won't you, Sans," Arial said. "You know how much I worry about you."

"Ok."

As he walks with the two to Waterfall, Sans can't help but sense someone watching him. There is a chill that creeps up his spine. It's coming from the left side. The human is glancing at him from the corner of his eye.

It's a cool gaze, dull from sorrow and frustration. It's as if they had experienced some horrible past encounter. Nothing from the human's behavior however seemed to have indicated that Sans had did anything malicious.

Still he felt something strange from simply returning the gaze. A foreign thought passed his mind.

'I have to get away from him before he stabs me.'

Why Sans would have a fear of the human killing him he had no idea? He wondered if this human child even had a knife?

When they had stopped in Waterfall, Toriel had gone off to gaze at a waterfall by a bridge. Chara was by the lake where two bluish flowers peered on into the water. Sans walked next to him.

"So kid, do you like the scenery?"

"I suppose it could grow on you," Chara said.

"Would you say it looked better on the surface?"

"No, it looks about the same to me."

There was a moment of silence.

"Say kid, have you killed anyone? I'm only asking because every time I looked at you I can't help but feel in some other time that you might have tried to kill me."

Sans sees the human's left eye twitch and he begins to suspect it's true. He has no memory of ever getting into this encounter. The only explanation is either the human had the ability to wipe memories or somehow the human had gone back in time to change it from ever happening.

The first one simply wasn't possible. Humans couldn't acquire magic through normal means and using magic had severe affects on the human body. An overuse of simple magic took a toll on a human's life span.

So a human wiping every monster's memory of this encounter would have been an impossible feat without shattering their own soul.

There was no reason for the human to even confess that he had.

"Would you tell me if I asked?"

Chara simply chuckled.

He revels in knowing that even if Sans knew that he had tried to kill him, he will never know the reason. Chara has to give him credit for being such a pain in the ass. Everyone he had met has never cared one way or another. Even Kenny hadn't faced him in the end resorting to telling the keeper of the orphanage, a woman who only gave him a pat on the wrist.

Chara had remembered the first time he had used this power after he had died. The situation was similar to this one. Many time lines he had tried to get closer to Sans just to see whether the skeleton turned any better on further acquaintance and if there was a chance of him divulging his secrets. There was clearly more to him than met the eye.

One of the strangest things about the skeleton was that even on further acquaintance, Sans was still very distant and secretive.

'I wonder how much it would take before you begin to shatter. How long would it take before you break?'

Chara finds himself torn when his plan actually starts to work. He wants to stay in this endless loop seeing whether he can make that skeleton break but he also strives to see the humans suffer.

It's with reluctance that he follows through. He finds that Sans only has memories of events that happened from the timeline before. Chara should have figured it out earlier from the many times the two had crossed paths. Perhaps he had been so blind by his hatred for the skeleton that he hadn't realised.

Chara thinks with Asriel he can make the humans suffer. He hears children begin to scream and he sees the woman who had once been his guardian.

"We got to call for help. That monster will kill the children."

Any kind of maternal feelings that he might have felt were vanquished by her words. Now he can only remember the times in which that woman had mistreated him, keeping him out of activities where he'd usually play with the other kids, punishing him for his little pranks.

"KILL THEM," Chara's intent seeps through.

Asriel's hands are shaking. It's fear though none of it comes from Chara.

It's ironic that the reasons Asriel doesn't want to kill them was due to their inseparable bond. Asriel remembers when they gathered the golden flowers in the garden. He remembers when they made that pie. Chara realises that little insignificant things like that were things that were important to Asriel.

Asriel walks to the village. It's slow because by the time they arrive the humans are already there with guns aiming them at the monster.

He sees the flowers in the middle of the village.

"I can't."

Just about every human backs away. Chara however notices that a man seems to be backing up towards one of the house. He wonders if the man is hiding something.

Asriel steps closer.

"Go away. You're not welcome here, monster."

The man points his gun at him. His hand is trembling.

"I won't let you harm my family. Get any closer and I'll shoot."

Asriel moves once more.

"KILL HIM!" Chara screams maniacally.

Asriel conjures a fireball in his hand.

The man gulps. Suddenly Chara hears bullets coming from behind.

Chara senses Asriel growing weaker but even with all of his determination pressing through Asriel's defenses, Asriel's walls of determination keep him going strong. For some reason, Asriel is determined to spare the humans despite everything they had done.

'To them I am the monster. My father used to tell stories of how life was on the surface. Humans and monsters were able to coexist at one point but one day a human had died from the surface. The humans discovered that once the monster had absorbed it's corpse that it grew more powerful. They feared that the monsters would use this power to destroy them.'

Asriel sensed Chara's surprise.

"Now you're deciding to pity them because of this?"

Chara's voice was loud and biting.

Asriel snapped.

"They are only protecting themselves. What will happen if I attack them? If they die, they will attack my family next. That barrier doesn't stop humans from coming in, it's stops monsters from coming out."

It's in a situation like this that Chara for the first time feels awful. All those time loops where he had tried to get his revenge and he hadn't been thinking of Asriel's feelings at all. He had become a monster and deserved to die right where he stood.

"I'm sorry, Chara."

Chara embraces this as his punishment.

Asriel manages to make it back wanting to say good bye to his parents for the last time. He just makes it to the garden in his father's throne room before he collapses to his knees succumbing to his wounds.

The shadow of a monster looms over him.

"Dad! I'm sorry."

He looks up but it isn't his father staring down at him but Sans. The idea is a haunting prospect that even in death, Asriel wouldn't be able to say 'bye' to his own father.

His consciousness fades and Chara sees Sans for the last time through Asriel's eyes.

"By this point, you've already figured out my plan but this time you're too late. Even after I'm dead, it'll be satisfying knowing that you've never won."

Chara smiles.

"I recall you asked me a question. I never did get around to answering it did I? Truth was I didn't think you'd be very happy with the truth. It's not every day you discover your pleasure in life is going back in time just to see someone else suffer. Yes, I tried to kill you. I did it in just about every time line I've experienced. HAHAHAHAHA."

Chara closes his eyes as his body vanishes to dust.


	5. Sharing

The king is the first to arrive, his eyes widening as they took in the dust littered all over the golden flowers

"What?" Asgore asked, stunned for a moment. It's not every day a monster sees dust litter the ground.

Sans knows this only happens when a monster dies. Looking at it was akin to a human walking in a room with a dead human corpse.

"What happened here?"

He eventually spots Chara's dead body covered in dust.

"How did he get here?"

"I don't know."

"You don't have to spare my feelings," He said crumpling to his knees. Tears ran down his eyes, and Sans could hear him sobbing. "Just tell me."

"I saw your son come in here gravely injured holding the human boy," Sans said.

Asgore's sobs grew louder and a chill crept up his bones. He was afraid the king was shatter at any instant. Yes, because Chara while not his biological son was still his son even if he was the person responsible for killing them.

"His name was Chara right?"

Asgore embraced the human's body.

"That human. Did you know it had the power to travel through time?" Sans asked.

"Really?" Asgore asked in curiosity. "How do you know?"

"He told me before he died."

Sans knew there was nothing he could have done to change the situation. There was nothing about the situation that he could have controlled but the guilt remained there all the same. He had never seen the king upset before and once he had, Sans never wanted to see again.

"Do you think it's possible that we can save them?"

Sans shrugged. He avoided the king's eyes.

"I don't know. Maybe if we can do some research-"

Asgore smiled.

"You think it could bring Asriel back?"

"I don't know but it's better than nothing."

Asgore chuckled.

"I'm sure your father would love the chance to get his hands on such a big project."

"Maybe, would you like him to make a coffin too? You know in case he wakes up," Sans asked.

"Would he want to?"

"He wouldn't mind doing it if it was a request from you."

Asgore's eyes lit up. Sans has only seen this expression when he's remembering something heart warming. Perhaps his father had been an old friend of the king.

He had always assumed that the king had hired his father because of his abilities. Maybe he was hired because he had been a trusted acquaintance of the king.

When Sans drops by his home, Arial is in the kitchen.

"What's for dinner?" He asked.

"Hot dogs. You know they are especially good with a lot of 'Cats' up and Papyrus just loves them."

Sans chuckled.

"You would too if only just to squeeze a lot of 'Cats' up on them."

Sans heads to the door of his father's lab. It's usually shut when he's busy and he only ever opens the door for him.

He knocks.

"Hey! Knock knock."

"Sans, is that you?" A voice speaks from the other side. It's a rough shaky ol' timer voice of one who sounded like they had lived for a while.

There is silence.

"You get too much pleasure in vexing me. Who's there?"

"Boo."

"Boo who?"

"Look don't get upset, it's just a joke."

"SANS!" The voice grew an octave. "Get in here."

Sans chuckled as he came inside.

The lab like usual had been in complete and utter disarray. His father who was a skeleton with a cracked skull and hallow black eyes was completely absorbed in his work.

"So what did Asgore say? Is he going to give me a raise?"

"He says he'd like for you to make a coffin for his son."

Dr Aster looked up.

"I had no idea that Asriel had developed such crude tastes in necrophilia," he said. Then his eyes lit up as if he had realised what he had just said.

"Oh, did something happen with Asriel?"

"His body's turned to dust," He said. "The coffin is for the human."

"What kind of coffin does he want?"

"Well what kind of coffins do humans typically have?"

Dr Aster chuckled, patted him on the shoulder.

"There are times I really love your sense of humour."

The two hear a knock.

"Dinner is ready."

Sans' eyes narrowed.

"Y'know you ought to come to dinner before she busts the door down. It could be a 'cat' tastrophe."

Dr Aster sighed before he headed for the kitchen. A skeleton about Sans' height was sitting at the kitchen table besides Arial.

Sans greeted his little brother. He looked very cute with those big innocent eyes and rosy cheeks. It was all he could do to stop himself from hugging him.

"Hey Papyrus."

"SANS, IT'S ABOUT TIME YOU ARRIVED YOU SLOWBONES. MOM ALREADY MADE DINNER."

Sans snickered.

"Papyrus," Arial said. "You helped too."

"THAT'S RIGHT, BROTHER. I THINK THAT DESERVES A THANK YOU."

"Thanks?"

Papyrus chuckled.

The next day, Sans is about to head out. He's thinking of researching more about the time stream.

Papyrus stops him by front door.

"JUST WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING, BROTHER?"

"Me? I'm going to the library."

Papyrus folds his arms. His eyes narrowed causing his brows to scrunch making him look angry.

"YOU NEVER GO TO THE LIBRARY."

Sans ponders this. It's only after he's met that human that he was prompted to ever go here. He had never been interested in books and it wasn't like him to do something like that for a complete stranger.

He's not doing it for the king. Sans simply wants to know how to prevent something like this from happening again.

There's nothing beneficial in the library and Sans had spent most of his day looking for something on time travel.

There had been many time streams, each time line coming with their series of trials. Each timeline the human had said that Sans had interfered in his plans. The only timeline in which he hadn't was the one he was currently in.

This was the only timeline that had given the human the outcome he desired. It was a timeline he had been obsessed with achieving. Could the answer really be that simple?

Could it be that the child's power was gone now that his plan was completed? He had been certain that the human had also desired to kill him even before he had died and would have been the type to do so. So if he had the ability to turn back time why didn't he?

The king at one point had possessed an ancient tome with information on monsters absorbing human souls. A monster absorbing a human soul was known to make a monster powerful but not much information was written about the human soul.

Did it vanish or did it merge with the monster's own soul?

No one could have possibly known that a human's power still remained intact after their death or the very fabric of determination was what was responsible for the time travel.

When Sans returns, his father is eager to get to work.

Sans wonders why his father seems so excited.

Dr Aster smiles.

"The king's already told me everything. Apparently this human child had the ability to travel through time."

"Yes."

"How baffling."

Years pass in the human world, there is a small round boy around the age of 12 with short black hair and blue eyes. His mother had bought him those glasses when she had discovered he was near-sighted.

He was one of the smartest at his school always writing formulas in his notebook. Walter had been one of the most intimidating boy at his own school having formed a gang of bullies who often picked on the weak and defenseless.

Rumours had sprung up about how Walter had climbed Mt Ebott and had come back unscathed.

"Do you really believe something like that?"

"Tony, it's true though."

Greg was one such person who would believe such convoluted theories without any evidence.

"He said he followed a voice coming from the mountain," Greg said.

His teacher had told of the story of a boy climbing the mountain and never returning. The police had never found the body and no one dared down the cave where the monsters were.

"No one ever returns from Mount Ebott," Tony retorted. "He's lying."

Though Tony said this, there was no evidence proving otherwise despite the teacher saying it was impossible. It was frustrating. Anybody was willing to believe some half baked theory about Mount Ebott but no one was willing to believe in something as cool as time travel.

Tony was one of the smartest kids gifted at a young age with eidetic memory. He attended a school filled with geniuses that researched quantum physics for a living.

No one however seemed to share his love for science fiction though even though Tony has assembled a lot of evidence that it was more plausible than some stupid scary story that Walter had made up.

He had many theories written in his notebook. No one had ever thought of inventing a time machine.

After school, Walter and his gang of bullies walked up to him just as he was heading to lunch.

"Hey you little brat."

"You think you can get away. You haven't given me your lunch money," Walter said.

It was times like these that Tony really wished he had the courage to punch that smirk off of Walter's face.

"My mom didn't pay me."

"Liar," Walter spat.

"Takes one to know one."

"Oh you heard about that little rumor going about did you? It's 100 percent true," He said. "I heard a voice coming from the mountain."

"Yeah and what kind of monsters did you see?"

Walter's face heated up.

"I don't have to explain it to you."

"You didn't see any monsters did you?"

"I did."

"I don't believe you. No one ever returns from Mount Ebott."

"Well I did and there's no way that you'll be able to prove that I didn't."

"Wanna bet?" Tony spat.

"How much you want to bet? If you lose, you'll be giving me money as long as I go to this school."

"You're on."

Walter grinned nastily.

"Shake on it."

It's after school that Tony heads to the mountain.

"Where are you going, Tony?" Greg asks.

"To the mountain."

"You're really going to do it? Didn't our teacher say it was dangerous?"

"You don't understand. I have to do it. Walter always says these kind of things and everybody believe him and because everyone believes him he thinks it gives him the right to bully everyone."

"He wanted your lunch money again didn't he?"

"I didn't give it to him or anything," Tony said. "He punched me a little bit before tossing me into a garbage can."

"Look you don't have to do this."

"I'm going to do it and you won't stop me, Greg."

Greg sighed and continued walking home while Tony walked up the mountain.

Despite what he had said though Tony was becoming more and more frightened not knowing what to expect.

The cave was dark. Every thing was hard to see even with his glasses on. Suddenly his shoes hit a vine and he fell forward.

"AHHHH!"

Tony winced as he rubbed his head. He looked around and then he smiled once he realized he was alone.

'See I was right, there's no monsters here,' He thought.

He looked up. It looked like the hole he had fallen down was awfully high. How would he ever get home?

A frog had hopped in just then.

"Are you alright, human?"

"You can talk?"

"Every monster who is down here can talk."

"You're a monster?" Tony asked. "You seem nice enough."

The frog blushes.

"I know you can stay by my place for a while. You shouldn't be walking around with that injury."


	6. Future of New Home

A couple of days pass before Tony insists on moving out. He's determined to find a way out of this place. Still another part of him is curious by the layout. Green vines and yellow flowers grow in this place and once he walks outside he's sees it's snowing.

It's a rather small town. He passes by monsters that look like animals on the surface. There's one that looks like a bunny rabbit and another that looks like a bear.

He continues to walk before he spots a cave. Inside the cave Tony hears the sound of water running.

As he gets deeper in the cave he sees a river flowing from a waterfall. It's a stream of water narrow enough to jump across. Tony was just about to jump when he caught sight of something white materializing on the other side of the river.

Tony calls out to the creature.

"Hello?"

"hi."

"Do you know how to navigate this area?"

"i could show you if you like."

"Really? Thanks."

Tony jumped across the river.

"What's your name anyway?"

Upon closer inspection Tony saw it was a creature that looked like those ghosts he used to see in some old cartoons. The creature's eyes widened at his question.

"oh you want to know my name? it's napstablook."

The ghostlike creature hovers away and Tony continues to walk in the same direction.

"are you following me?"

"No. Do you know the way out of here?"

"the exit is blocked by a barrier. you can only access it if you pass the king's palace. i wouldn't suggest it though, i heard he hasn't been too happy since a human killed his son."

"So it's true then. Everyone who does climb the mountain never returns."

Tony stops. The ghost turns around. It sees Tony staring at the ground, his face very pale.

"are you coming? i know we're not heading in the same direction but you don't look so good."

Tony tries to smile, his lips are strained from trying to force it. He tries to think positive. Maybe he won't die.

"I'll be fine."

"you can stay at my house if you don't have anywhere to stay."

Tony follows the ghost to his place. There's two houses slanted towards each other. One of them was colored pink while the other one which Tony had assumed was Napstablook's home was blue.

The boy steps inside looking around. It's rather worn down with cracks in the walls and wooden floors some in harsh disrepair. There is a fridge on the far left corner of the wall. Next to that is a large television on the ground and a computer desk housing an old computer with a mouse and keyboard.

On the other side of the room near the door were a lot of records and on the right corner near the door was a large spiderweb. Tony could see a tiny spider sitting there almost as if it were watching them.

"So who lives in the house on the right?"

"oh, that house belongs to my cousin, mettablook. she usually talks with our cousin about now. it should be fine though she loves humans though she might be a little too loud for you if you're used to the quiet."

"Where do you sleep?" Tony asked.

"ghosts don't sleep. do you need to sleep?"

"Yeah. I heard we can die without sleep."

"what do you need, to sleep i mean?"

"Well there's no bed so I guess some blankets and a pillow will be fine."

"i think i'll ask my cousin about it when she gets back."

It's while they are talking that Tony begins to hear a loud knock on the door.

"come in," Napstablook said.

A ghost looking a lot like Napstablook comes in. Tony notices the ghost is smiling but tears are coming out of it's eyes.

"how's toughblook?"

"It's terrible. He's not looking too good. I wish I could help him," She moaned. "The torments of having no hands."

Tony has never seen something more over dramatic in his entire life.

As if reading his mind, the ghost's eyes seem to catch sight of him.

"Who's this? Is this a human?"

"yes."

"Pleasure to meet you. I'd shake your hands but I have no hands."

"mettablook, do you happen to have any spare blankets or pillow that it can borrow?"

"Oh they need it to sleep. I've heard sleeping is one of the humans favorite pastimes."

Before Tony could correct her she had left.

Only minutes later she had returned with a pile of blankets and a pillow. Tony set the blankets flat on the floor and put a pillow on one end.

"I've heard that the human world has it's share of celebrities. How do humans get famous on the surface?"

Tony had no idea. He personally never had any interest in celebrities. Still he didn't exactly want to discourage her.

"I imagine it takes a bit of talent. I think it's important that they also have a large fan base."

Mettablook frowned and turned sobbing on her cousin's shoulder.

"Waaaaah, it's hopeless. I'll never be as famous."

"cheer up, mettablook. you'll be famous one day."

She looked up at her cousin with tears at the corner of her eyes.

"You really think so?"

"yeah."

"Thank you, Blooky. It makes me happy to hear you say that."

She fluttered away before Napstablook could say anything else.

"well," he said. "good night. I hope you sleep well. i'll be floating in the corner if you need anything."

He floated to the upper right corner of the room working on some music.

Once Tony was asleep, Napstablook hear a soft whisper coming from the web in the right corner of the room.

"Hey."

Napstablook floated towards the web. A tiny black spider stood in the middle of the web.

"yes?"

"That's a human isn't it?" The spider asked in curiosity.

"i think so though i've never seen a human before."

"I've heard humans can be very dangerous. They sealed us in the ruins and that's the reason why monsters are still trapped here."

"i don't know they seemed alright with me."

"Are you sure? You don't need to defend them, you know."

"i'll be ok. they're just staying here for a little while, then they are heading home."

The spider was hesitant before it eventually crawled down the web and into a hole in the wall.

There were many spiders within the walls of Napstablook's house. A good majority of the spiders were relatives of this particular spider.

The spider had expressed it's worry, telling it's family members of Napstablook's human guest.

Rumours spread around fairly quickly until a spider had made it's way into Asgore's castle crawling through a garden of golden flowers.

"Excuse me."

Asgore who had been sitting at his throne enjoying a cup of tea and a slice of butterscotch cinnamon pie looking up at the sound of a voice. He didn't see anyone.

"Is it just me or is my mind playing tricks on me?"

"Hey down here."

Still all Asgore could see was the flowers.

"King Fluffybuns!"

"Oh and you are?"

"I'm just a spider, King Asgore sir."

Asgore seemed to be thinking about something before he cringed.

"Mr...or should I say Ms-?"

The spider felt sorry for the king who seemed to be torn between referring to it as a female or a male.

"Maybe just spider will do."

He coughed.

"Spider," He said. "How can I help you?"

"I was a little concerned when there were rumors going around that there was a human in the underground and I thought you might have wanted to know. We're concerned that the human might be dangerous."

"I see," He said. "It's alright, I'll help in anyway I can."

Just as the spider was beginning to leave Toriel came inside. She seemed puzzled when she saw no one was there.

"Who're you talking to, dear?"

"It was just a spider," He said, brushing it off. "Have you heard from Sans lately?"

"No, I-"

"I'd like to talk to Doctor Aster when he has the time so please tell me when Sans stops by."

Toriel's face heated up.

'Not even a thank you for making his pie what an insufferable man.'

All day he would sit in his room reading and it was rare when she ever did talk with her husband. She wondered what was ailing him.

Sans came later in the evening when Toriel had taken a walk outside Waterfall.

"Hey Tori."

"Hey Sans."

"I don't see Asgore with you today," He said walking beside Toriel along the shore.

"He's been very busy lately. We don't talk much. He was saying something about talking with your father."

"I see and I'm guessing from that eager expression on your face that you want me to give my father the news?"

Toriel smiled.

"If you would."

Sans chuckled before staring out at the waterfall.

"You know my father has been awfully busy lately. Ever since Asgore has found out about that human's ability to travel through time," Sans said. "He's been working on a machine to replicate the effects."

"You mean it's a machine that can travel to the past?"

Sans turned. He was taken aback by the look of sheer awe on her face.

"Or the future. At least that's what my father says."

"In any case you seem very interested in it."

"Do I? I merely wonder if the future is set in stone. Call it curiosity."

As they were gazing at the waterfall together, Sans heard some monsters walking up from behind them.

"Look mom."

"Ah, what a cute couple."

Sans felt funny. They weren't really a couple were they? What would happen if word came around that the two were on a date? Monsters of opposite genders never walked beside each other like this unless it was a date.

He pulled at his shirt and glanced at the watch on his hand. It was a watch that his father had made for him a couple of weeks ago.

"My, Sans you're looking awfully blue."

He chuckled.

"Oh look at that time. I should be going."

Toriel frowned.

"Bye Sans."

It had been days before Dr Aster had managed to pry himself from work to visit the castle. He knocked intently on the front door. Much to his surprise, Toriel was the one to answer the door.

"Hey Aster."

"Oh Toriel," he said. "Is Asgore here? I heard he wanted to talk to me."

She frowned, avoiding his hallow eyes.

"He's a little sick."

"Nonsense, I'm sure he's just pulling your horns," he chuckled. "Get it, because you're a goat."

Her expression didn't change.

"Heh, I guess it wasn't that funny huh? I guess I'm just out of practice."

She smiled.

"Come in, I'm sure he wouldn't mind the company."

Aster followed Toriel inside the castle and headed into Asgore's room.

Asgore was laying on his bed with a wet towel over his forehead and a thermometer sticking out of his mouth.

He groaned once he caught sight of Toriel and spit the thermometer out.

Toriel sighed.

"Come on, honey. You want to get better, don't you?"

"I'm fine, Tori."

"No. You're not," she said sternly.

"Will you leave me alone, if I stay in bed?" He asked. "Aster will keep me out trouble."

She sighed.

"Oh, alright."

Her shoulders slumped as she left the room.

He glanced at the door then at Aster.

"Is she gone?"

His eyes were wide and he was frowning.

Aster would have thought that the king had missed Toriel's presence if not for the last words.

He headed for the door and peered out.

"She's gone, Gorey."

The king let out a sigh of relief.

"'Bout time."

"So Gorey, what did you want to speak to me about?"

"Things haven't been going so good. There's rumours that a human has been spotted in the underground."

Aster's black eyesockets widened.

"Really?"

He frowned.

"I don't know what to do. I've told everyone I'd do my best to prevent this kind of thing from happening again but if I let a human live-"

"You think you've got problems. I can't find any information on human souls and nothing about their time travel ability."

"Well feel free to use the library in the castle if you need it."

"Then I'll use it as soon as I'm free. Still we'll have to prepare for the worst case scenario if my research comes to a dead end."

Tears were on the corner of the king's eyes, looking very glassy as if he were about to burst into a sobbing fit.

"What do you think I should do?" The king asked.

Aster glanced at the king for a moment before he turned away.

"What are you, 5? You know it's hard to think when you're making that face."

"Please. You always have good advice," Asgore pleaded.

"Well if that human is capable of being dangerous as you say they could be after you next. You know they need a boss monster's soul to go to the surface."

"How do you think I should address this problem?"

"I think we should have a meeting to discuss the future of New Home. We could use the citizen's imput."

"Really? I've never heard of a king asking it's citizens for advice."

"Do you think you have any other options?"

Asgore shrugged.

"It's worth a shot."

After he left, Dr Aster headed towards the King's library. For the entirety of the day he began rummaging through books

It was hopeless there was nothing on human souls.

With a sigh, Aster called it a day and was about to head home when he caught sight of a single yellow flower in the throne room.

Aster glanced around, finally finding a shovel and a pot.

He dug up the flower and put it in a vase before heading back.

Upon passing Asriel's old room, Aster was struck with an idea.

Maybe Chara had brought some books over from the surface about the humans. It was a long shot but Aster could use anything at this point.

He looked through Chara's toy chest. On the bottom was an array of video tapes.

It was a start.

Within weeks, Asgore had handed out papers announcing the first meeting.

On the day of the meeting many monsters had gathered in the castle sitting at a large table.

"You're all gathered here today to discuss the future of New Home. There's rumours that a human has arrived in the underground."

There was a loud commotion.

"Quiet."

"I haven't acquired any information on the human and have no idea whether or not they are dangerous. My royal scientist thinks we can't afford to take any chances but I want to know your input."

"With a human soul the king could break the barrier."

"Well," Asgore said. "That's not quite true. Only seven humans souls could permanently remove the barrier."

"Kill the humans."

"They kept us down here for too long."

"What if they try to kill our king?"

"We need a royal guard.

"Maybe monsters who are assigned to guard the king."

"Gerson could be the captain."

"That ol' fart?"

"Well, he was the hammer of justice."

"Thank you," Asgore said. "I'll keep your suggestions in mind."

Days after the meeting, Asgore dropped by Gerson's home in Waterfall and knocked on his door.

"Who's there?"

"Gerson, it's me. King Asgore."

The door opened.

"It's been a long time. Finally came by to see me, have you?"

Asgore's eyes and head were kneeling towards the ground.

Gerson chuckled.

"Relax, it's been a while but I forgave you. We may not always see eye to eye but you have your viewpoint and I have mine. Is there something you need?"

"I'm thinking of having a royal guard but there's not many monsters I could say who served in the first war."

"You want me to join the royal guard is that it?"

"Would you?" Asgore asked.

"I don't know. How much is the pay? I have to keep this place up and running y'know?"

"50 g."

"Higher, I have kids to feed you know."

Asgore's face flushed.

"How about 250 g?"

Gerson's eyes widened.

"Really? What a handsome price. I could feed my kids and open a store."

Asgore smiled.

"I'm counting on you, Gerson."

While Gerson was training in the underground however a human on the surface was training in the gym.

For nearly 50 years, Frank N. Stein hosted a monthly monster tournament testing the strength of humans and monsters from all over the world. Terri's father was a long running champion of the tournament and had been training his daughter to pursue this same goal.

It was one day after her father had come home from work with dark circles under his eyes and the way he recklessly glanced around the room that set off the red flag.

"Dad, what's wrong?"

"We have to leave now."

"But dad, why?" she asked.

"Come on, before they get here."

"Before who gets here?"

Terri ran to catch up with her dad who had started walking to the car.

Suddenly hands grabbed her from behind.

"Dad," she sputtered.

He turned and saw his little girl in the hands of two men.

"What do you want from me?"

"Come with us if you want your daughter to live."

He sighed and followed the two shady men into their black limosine.

When Terri had awoke they were on board a ship.

"What?"

She glanced around and saw her dad sitting on the bed across from her. His eye was bruised and his lower lip was bleeding.

"Dad! What happened?"

He sighed.

"I got into some trouble."

Terri tried to move her arms but they were bound with rope.

"Ya think?"

"Yeah, we're probably gonna die."

"Don't say that. I don't wanna die."

"Listen if you somehow make it alive after all this, I want you to flee to the mountains. Those men won't find you there."

"What about you?"

"I don't think I'll survive," he said with a chuckle.

Suddenly the door opened and two men grabbed her and her father dragging them out to the front of the boat.

Terri could see the vast ocean in front of them.

One of the men snorted.

"Did you really think we'd let you leave knowing that piece of information? You really are an idiot."

"We can't have you leaking any information about our boss."

"I wasn't-"

"I believe you but you could never be too sure. You understand right? It's a matter of trust."

Suddenly Terri heard a loud bang.

Terri gasped. She shivered horrified.

"What do we do with the girl?"

"Throw her in the ocean. If we're lucky she'll drown or get eaten by sharks."

"What? No."

Suddenly Terri felt the water draw near. Then it was dark and cold. She had never been taught how to swim because of her deadly fear of water. She only could do what she seen the dogs do, dogpeddling but she'd never been good at it.

Her nose hurt. Almost on instinct, Terri flailed her arms trying to go to the surface. There was light shining on the surface of her eyelids.

Gasping, her throat sore Terri got to the surface before sinking once more. She spotted an island in the distance. It looked very far for a mediocre swimmer like her. She worried that her arms would give out before she made it.

"Are you alright, dear?"

A grey dolphin suddenly emerged from under her.

"What? You can talk?"

"Of course I can talk. I'm a monster silly."

"You look like a dolphin to me."

"Well I am. A dolphin monster I mean. You want me to take you to that island over there?"

"Yeah."

Slowly the dolphin took them to the island. Once they were there, Terri crawled off.

She waved at them.

"Thank you."

"If you have anything you want just call."

The dolphin gave her their name.

"I'll be there if you need anything."

"Ok, I will," Terri said.

In the distance she saw a large mountain and ran to the top remembering her father's last words. She didn't know how she had dropped in the ruins but her body was pretty versatile so it made little difference.

The cave was huge and vast.

'Looks like I'm not gonna be leaving anytime soon."

In the distance, she could see a creature that looked almost like a large fly.

"Are you lost?" it asked. "It's a little dangerous to wander down here all by yourself now that the king has assigned guards to protect the kingdom."

"Who're you?"

"I'm Whimsmur. You're not from around here are you?" it asked. "I'd be careful if you are thinking of leaving this place."

Froggit hopped in.

"Heya Whimsmur."

It sobbed before running away.

"Come back."

It stopped and turned towards Terri seeming to realise for the first time that she was there.

"Hi. Do you know what's going on down here?"

"Tsk, tsk. It's been a long time since we seen anyone as weird looking as you."

"How do I get out of here?"

"The exit of the ruins is that way," Froggit said pointing to the north.

Terri sighed.

"Are there really guards outside guarding this place."

"Yes, there are two monsters."

"How long have those two been the guards?"

"It's been three years. The two were training under Gerson. I heard they accepted the job because they needed the money to support their daughter, Undyne."

"Why are they guarding the place?"

"I heard it's because the king wants to take a human soul to break the barrier that seals us monsters inside."

"I see. Well thanks for the help."

'Hopefully I'll survive,' She thought.

It had been a long treacherous journey out of the cave. The outside wasn't any better. There was one long path surrounded by trees with long black trunks.

He had only taken a couple of steps before encountering two fish like creatures.

One of them had dark blue skin while the others was a deep red.

"My my, it's a human."

"Do you think if we capture it we'll get a raise?"

The fish creature with the deep red skin conjured a blue spear throwing it at the human.

Terri moved away from the spears as they were hurled at her one by one.

It was just like she was on the boat and she was about to be thrown to her death.

"No!" she screamed. "I won't die like this."

Her fist glistened with orange magic.

She would no longer retreat for his father's sake.

With determination, Terri ran to them and punched the red one in the gut until it turned to dust.

For a moment the other monster simply gazed at the dust at it's feet before it barred it's teeth.

"You killed her. You flippin killed her," the fish snapped in rage.

It lunged with spears hitting in all directions.

Terri let out a battle cry as her fist met it's stomach. She didn't stop. She was so upset, so confused.

She sobbed, never noticing that the monster turned to dust.


	7. A Box Lover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which the second fallen child meets a tragic end.

A year after these events the royal guard was established as an efficient means of defense. Gerson had trained 8 sentries to keep guard over all stations of the underground.

Training went in cycles. Gerson trained old and new recruits day and night.

The first time he's captured is by two fish monsters. Tony doesn't know who they are.

He is kept in a cell in the castle with a coffin housing another soul. The name, Chara is embellished on the top of the coffin in a red heart.

When he's finally free, he sees his captors. One of the fish monsters has red scaly skin while the other one is blue in color. Both monsters are holding bright blue spears.

"Why are you trying to kill me?"

"We have orders from the King Asgore," the red monster said.

"Whose Asgore?"

"Show some respect, human," the blue monster snapped.

"Who's King Asgore?"

"He's the king of all monsters."

Tony wants to run but then he realizes that the monster had paralyzed him with powerful magic. He closes his eyes while one of the monsters stabs him in the heart.

When he wakes up he's outside Napstablook's home.

"you can stay at my house if you don't have anywhere to stay."

These words sound familiar. It's almost as if Napstablook had never met-

"you're not bored are you?"

Tony shook his head. He sat down.

"i'm sorry. you've barely looked around you act like you've seen this place before."

His heart was pounding quickly.

"i was silent about it because i didn't want to creep you out."

Was it possible? Did he really travel back in time?

Tony felt his lungs constrict.

"It is alright if I step outside for a bit? I need some fresh air."

"alright."

He goes outside and takes a walk. The last thing he remembers is looking into the eyes of his captors: two fish monsters.

He had asked why they were killing him and they had said-

"Oof."

Tony stepped back and rubbed at his shoulder. The collision had been brutal. He looked up and he saw a monster that looked like a tub with a turtle's head. In the tub was water and a yellow bird sitting on a bird perch that stood above the water.

"This is awful. Who knows how many germs I've just acquired."

"Excuse me."

"Ah, how can you walk around looking so dirty?"

"I'm not dirty. Who are you anyways?"

Tony felt his right eye twitch.

"Woshua."

The tub monster suddenly crept up towards him. He took a step backward.

"Wait, don't-"

"I need to clean you. You're dirty."

"Just listen. Don't clean me. What's going on here? Why does Asgore want to kill humans?"

The bird flew off the perch diving for the scrub brush that was floating on the surface of the water it flew to Tony's face and began to scrub.

"Ugh."

"It's a rumour that the king's son died at the hands of humans. Some suspect that he wants to get revenge on the humans while others suspect he wants to collect seven human souls to break the barrier trapping us monsters down here. I kind of feel sorry for that skeleton."

"Skeleton?"

"Sans is his name I think. His father works for the king. Ever since the king's son has died, they've been very busy creating trying to find a way to temporarily extract human souls without killing the human."

"Oh I see."

The next day he decides to take a walk outside Waterfall just to explore. He doesn't go too far in case there are monsters trying to kill him.

He sees a skeleton walking alongside a goat monster. The skeleton is wearing a white lab coat, a white suit with a black tie, black pants and a pair of brown loafers.

The two are staring at an exotic waterfall when some monsters comment on them going on a date. When the skeleton turns around, Tony sees the blue flush on his cheeks.

"I wonder what his problem is?'

He's captured again and the pain is just as excruciating as the first time around.

"What's your name?" Tony asked the two fish monsters.

The red one simply says, "Codin."

From the awkward silence, it's a touchy question for the other monster.

"Krillin, don't be rude."

"I can if I want to."

"What about your last names?"

"Batter," the two fish monsters replied at the same time.

Tony chuckles. He might as well enjoy it before he dies.

The third time he resets, he grows tired of it.

There is no point in risking his life to go home when the king blocks his path. He doesn't know which monsters want to kill him. More than anything he wishes he had someone to share his concerns with but he's certain no monster would be interested in theories of quantum physics and his inventions.

So he walks around trying to catch his breath and then heads southeast.

He catches sight of the skeleton from his last reset in that same white lab coat.

Tony realises he's lost in thought staring off into the river.

"Hello?"

The skeleton turned towards him.

"Hi, you must be the human that fell into the underground. I'm Sans."

"I'm Tony."

Sans chuckled.

"Are you lost?"

"No, are you going to kill me?"

"No, the king already has monsters that do that."

"You're lying."

Tony saw the skeleton's shoulders tense.

"I heard that your father works for the king. He's trying to find a way to extract a human soul without killing a human."

His shoulders relaxed.

'Weird,' Tony thought. 'He was looking really nervous just seconds ago.'

"Nah, why waste the effort? It'd be pointless anyway if you just reset."

"You mean you know all about my time travel?" Tony asked in surprise.

"My father's a scientist kiddo."

"Are you his assistant?"

Sans turned towards Tony his eyes dilating.

"What makes you say that?"

"You know an awful lot about time travel despite only being just an assistant."

Sans looked away.

"I suppose I do."

"Really? That's awesome. Do you write your theories in a notebook?"

"No but my father does."

"Why do you think I have this ability, to reset I mean? Do you know what triggers it?"

"I don't know."

"I know the timeline seems to reset every time I die."

"Have you tried triggering a reset by simply wishing to?"

"What would be the point of that if I'm already making progress? I'm trying to get home," Tony asked. "I have no way of even saving things for my journey."

"Well, if you do manage to make a device like that it would be useful. If you had the time, you might even learn things that would take years to know."

"That's not a bad idea."

He tries Sans' idea. He wishes really hard that the timeline would reset putting his entire concentration in this thought.

When he opens his eyes, he's outside Napstablook's home again.

He visits Sans compelled to visit the skeleton for some reason. The skeleton that had once seemed lost in thought was now a skeleton who looked as though he were contemplating something.

Something Tony hadn't noticed from when he first talked with the skeleton was his posture. His shoulders were held tightly to his neck.

"Have we met before?"

"Yes we have," Tony said. "I did what you asked. I wished for the timeline to reset and it did."

"So what do you want from me, kid?"

"How do you think I could start from a later point in time?"

Sans was silent. Now that he was thinking about it Chara had said that he had reversed the timelines to kill Sans in many of the timelines but in some timelines he had done different things.

On that day, he would have been heading to Waterfall to pick up some supplies from Gerson's shop where the kid had obviously been planning to pick the buttercups. Chara had come with Toriel that day and dropped by his home postponing this trip for another day.

Chara also knew from previous timelines that Sans retained some memory of the previous timeline directly proceeding the current timeline. So resetting at an earlier point following a save in which Chara had killed him would have gave him foresight in knowing Chara's next moves and preparing for them.

From the way Chara was talking none of his timelines had he successfully completed his plan except the one Sans was currently residing in, meaning that killing him during that important event would have bled into the next timeline.

Chara could also use the fact that Sans had no memories of the future of his own timeline against him because of this. He would only know the intent and not the time of the event.

Meaning he had a way of knowing what events would prompt him into taking action and Chara could simply reset until he came across a timeline in which Sans wouldn't or couldn't intervene.

Judging by all this information it seemed that Chara simply had the intent of restarting at a later point in time.

"Wishing. It's done you well so far hasn't it?"

"Would you help me? Build the machine I mean?"

"What machine?"

"A machine that can restore items across time and space."

"Look kid, I wouldn't know the first thing about building a machine."

"You know a lot more about this ability that I have than I do," He said. "We can help each other. Surely you want to know how my abilities work?"

"I hope you don't expect us to be friends."

"I only need help gathering parts. We don't have to be friends but it'd be easier because this job does require a bit of trust."

"It'll amount to nothing if you are caught."

"Are you kidding me? I have the power to reset."

Sans shrugged.

"Well, let's get to it then."

With the ability to save and reset by simply wishing, Tony had managed to track in his notebook when the parts he needed washed up in the river from the human world.

Of course upon realising that Sans had snippets of memory from other timelines, Tony had immediately set forth to using Sans' memories from the other timeline.

Upon many resets, Tony had discovered through use of repetition that Sans' memory remained more clearer than reacting to his presence. He discovered that strong emotion triggered better memory of the event.

Sans groaned when Tony began to recite things he had remembered from the previous timeline.

"You're not thinking of plowing down all the information in my skull are you?"

"We're getting closer everyday and at least I save every time we retrieve a part so don't complain."

By the time they had finished the device it had winded up looking rather square.

"It's a little plain don't you think?" Sans asked.

"It's perfect for what it does," Tony said as he placed some Astronaut food in the box.

"You think it'll work?"

Tony smiled.

"I can always try and if it don't work, well we could always try again."

Sans held out his hand.

"I'll see you around, kid."

Tony reached out to shake his hand. A farting noise echoed throughout the junkyard and suddenly he was laughing.

"Goodbye."

He closes his eyes and concentrates hard wanting to reset the timeline. Once he is outside Napstablook's house again Tony turns on his heel and runs to the trash heap.

The box is still there and with it the memories of Sans. Sans isn't there. At this point he's probably peering at the river.

In the box however he discovers that the astronaut food remains in tact. He decides to reset the entire timeline knowing his experiment worked knowing the box will be there.

Tony wants to make more boxes and he makes a total of four boxes doing this over and over. He never tells Sans.

The first time he tells Sans his involvement with the boxes, Sans only thinks he's crazy.

"That box has always been there," He said.

It dawns on him that if he were to make more progress that he would inevitably encounter Asgore. There's pain in imagining that Asgore could be Sans. He quite likes Sans and his sense of humour. It was quite amazing how a little time between them meant everything to him.

After the boxes are created he doesn't seek out Sans' company although the lingering ache it leaves stings. He isn't sure he can live with the disappointment if Sans had discovered that he had to make a decision that either saved the lives of all the monsters or left all the monsters underground without a king.

He walked around exploring outside Waterfall for the first time and eventually stumbled across a weird village. A village of tiny cat like dog creatures called Temmie. Much of the pathways that were in the area were only lit up by blue glow in the dark mushrooms.

"welcom to tem village. tem look lost but now tem had found new home," one of the creatures said. It had a blue and yellow striped sweater and long grey hair.

"What are you talking about this isn't my new home? Are you crazy?" Tony asked.

Something about the cute fluffy aspect of the creatures was enticing a sense of joy from deep within his soul.

'What are these creatures doing to me?!'

"tem thinks tem will like tem village."

The temmie scuttled off into a large room that broke off from the rest of the village.

Tony saw there were cabinets with vials of bones, bandannas, bandages, dice and other knickknacks.

"What's all this?"

"tem are collectors. tem collect everythin. just sell to tem."

"Is this place a pawn shop?"

"wat a pawn shop?"

"It's a place where the owner buys things off it's customers."

"yes, dis pawn shop."

"You don't look like you get a lot of different customers do you?"

"tem monsters don no where tem village is. temmie sells things tho."

"It must be so boring down here."

"Nah, temmie visit tem monster villages. tem has many friends."

"Isn't it a little easy to get lost in here?"

"it gets hard for tems to visit tem other village but tem can get around. tem is hard to carry tem stuff tho."

"Really? I know something that can help you."

"Wow. Tem likes dis. yous can sell it to tem."

Tony had taken a box with him as a token memory of his friendship with the skeleton. Having met the acquaintance of the temmies however Tony felt a little sorry for the creatures who probably only had a pinch of brain cells left in their head.

It was extremely frightening to imagine these monsters trying to leave the village without getting lost.

He reluctantly sold the box.

Outside his numerous deaths, it was really quite fascinating exploring this power that he had. With that power however came a price.

Throughout many timelines, Tony had managed to make it to Asgore. The problem was finding the courage to kill him.

They had greeted each other like old friends.

"So you're finally here."

No one stops the human child from waltzing right into the castle.

"Why do you want to kill me?" Tony asked.

"Why do YOU want to kill me?"

"I want to go home. I know I have to kill a boss monster to go to the surface. I don't want to do it though."

"You know you remind me a lot about my son. He would always cry over the most silliest things. He's dead now."

"How did he die?"

"He was slaughtered by humans on the surface trying to take our adopted child back to the human village."

"You mean there was another human before me?"

"Yes."

"How did that human die?" He asked. Tony remembered his anger at the time.

"I don't know. He was very ill though."

"If they were on the surface how do you know that your son is dead?"

"Sans seen him. Judging by your expression, you two seem to know each other. I bet it has to do with all that time travel hocus pocus, getting a keen sense of deja vu."

"Surely you don't have to kill me."

"I have a lot at stake. So yes, I do."

Asgore had taken his soul many times. He never liked it but Tony could understand why he did it. Still it made him wonder whether the skeleton's distance had been attributed to that incident and if so did it also have to do with his interest in time travel?

With all this time he could try and get to know the skeleton more by prompting more dialogue after all Tony still could make choices.

Doing a hard reset, Tony had tried saving outside Napstablook's house and deliberately getting captured by Gerson three days after trying to see if getting captured early triggered anything.

When he had finally been taken to the castle, Gerson had prompted him to step forward.

"I've finally captured the human just like you asked, King Asgore."

The king looked up and his eyes widened.

"Have I seen you before?"

Tony chuckles sheepishly.

"Must be a trick of my eyes. Forgive me, young man."

Tony nods before the king turns towards the tortoise.

Thank you, Gerson."

"So when are you going to kill me?" Tony asked.

"I don't want to kill you. I have little choice."

"How does the queen feel about this?"

In other timelines, Tony had known Toriel rather well. She was rather soft towards him despite being a human.

Asgore frowned.

"I guess word travels fast in the underground."

"Well, it does help that I had a little encounter with a certain skeleton."

"Oh really?"

"I seen him walking with the queen just three days ago. I think they were going on a date in Waterfall."

"WHAT?!"

It must have been minutes after this revelation that Toriel had came in. Her eyes widened at the sight of Asgore.

Tony turned and saw the king making large puppy dog eyes.

"Tori, you went on a date with him?"

Toriel's eyebrows raised a hair and her eyes narrowed.

"Who're you talking about?"

Asgore sobbed.

"Why Sans, of course?"

Her eyes widened.

"What?"

"This kid, he saw you two going on a date three days ago."

Toriel felt her face heat up. How dare he accuse her of such a thing?

"We were just walking," She snapped.

Asgore ignored her.

"Tsk tsk, I think you just dug your own grave. I'm siding with Tori on this one," Gerson said.

Asgore's face turned flushed.

"Tori, look I didn't mean to-"

"You want to know the truth why don't you ask him yourself."

"Uh er, Gerson, could you get Sans for me?"

"Oh you have a 'bone' to pick with him?"Gerson asked with a crooked grin.

Toriel snickered.

Asgore frowned.

His grin faded.

"Well, at least the queen thought it was funny."

He left and it must have been minutes before he was back with the skeleton in question.

His eyes were wide and an innocent grin was plastered on the skeleton's face.

"Um, what's this about?"

"Sans, what is the meaning of this?"

"Um excuse me, your majesty but what are we talking about?"

"This human said he saw you walking with the queen three days ago."

Sans glanced at the human.

"How did he know it was me?"

The king's face grew grimmer.

"So it is true."

Sans felt his face heat up.

"What?" He asked in surprise. "Y-you're wrong. It wasn't a date. We were just taking a walk."

Toriel slapped her forehead.

Sans chuckled, sweat beading down his skull.

"Too much info?"

Toriel nodded.

It was the first time Tony had seen Sans looking so flustered.

"Look it wasn't a date alright?"

Toriel snorted and folded her arms.

"You don't need to justify it, Sans. It isn't your fault that the king rather believe a human over his own wife."

"It's alright. I'll admit it wasn't without ulterior motives. Truth is I've been feeling a little guilty over the way things have turned out y'know with the death of your son and I wanted to support you two however I can."

Asgore was quiet as he regarded the skeleton in front of him.

"Well he doesn't appear to be lying."

Toriel walloped him on the head.

"Have a little trust."

Tony's eyes widened at the exchange. The two seemed very happy together despite everything. Still Tony was a little shocked by the revelation that the skeleton had developed an interest in time travel from that event.

"Sorry, Tori."

"Now I think we can all forget this event had ever took place," She said with a smile. "If you're lost Sans can take you home."

"Um...sure."

Despite having been taken from the castle by Sans before Asgore can kill him, Tony still dies in a matter of days.

After this he resets when he was at the beginning of cave wanting to try some more. Tony don't spot Sans at his usual spot but instead enjoys his life as Napstablook's companion. He accepts the inevitability that everything he does will be pointless.

"something is upsetting you. i know we're not acknowledging this but i heard writing in a diary can help. my cousin collects diaries too."

This time he writes in his notebook everything that happens in his day to day life. He doesn't see the skeleton by the river and has a feeling he never will. Still he has many things to tell the skeleton. He writes it all down in his notebook.

This time when he's running from Gerson, the spear punctures his body. Tony clings to his bloody chest wound. He collapses on the ground without seeing the horror on the tortoise's face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm taking some creative liberties here but I know in the game the box works in a different way than addressed in this fic. In the fic I just decided to have it be able to save items it's acquired through multiple timelines.


End file.
